…Everything seems right.

The Darker Side of Halloween Drinks…

There’s nothing like a good excuse when it comes to talking (or blogging) about drinks and cocktails, and Halloween is no exception.

For Halloween themed drinks, we bartenders can get pretty creative; dark spirits are always a winner, especially as we head into November, mainly because of the cold winter months that engulf the North of England. Similarly, flavours like orange and cinnamon, for example, are great flavours that work well with most dark spirits, and lend a great colour for those drinks that you want to keep gloomy and creepy looking.

Back to original libations, however, and there are more drinks than you think that fall into the Halloween realm, even if we have to use out imaginations…

Gloom Lifter

60ml Irish whisky

20ml lemon juice

20ml sugar syrup (adjust according to taste/sugar-to-water ratio)

10 ml egg white

1 bar spoon of brandy (optional)

1 dash of grenadine (optional)

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake hard and double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry, and express the oils of an orange peel over the surface of the drink. Discard peel and serve.

Pretty much a whiskey sour served straight up, the drink was part of the never ending quest for a hangover cure – much like the Corpse Reviver mentioned below – before breaking away and becoming a drink of its own accord in 1940s New York.

The brandy and grenadine are listed in numerous recipes for this drink, but I don’t think they are needed, as the drink has a brilliant complexity and balance already.

As for the egg white, I always try to use this drink as a starting point for customers who are pessimistic about egg in their drinks. If anything, it’s the egg white that makes the drink.

Gloom Chaser

25ml lemon juice

20ml Grand Marnier

20ml orange curacao

12.5 ml grenadine syrup

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake and double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

This drink, whilst making its debut in Harry Craddock’s The Savoy Cocktail Book, was first brought to my attention by good friend Rory Lim at the end of last year, when I was banging on about how great the Gloom Lifter was.

The Gloom Chaser, as you would imagine, is a tarter drink then its aforementioned cousin, especially with the orange-dominant flavors. Not a bad summer refresher (or Halloween refresher, for that matter).

As for an original creation, the following drink uses an old style of drink-mixing with a new gin released by the Berry Brothers Company, as well as some new cardamom bitters from Bob’s Bitters based in London.

Corpse Reviver 3.3

45ml Gin No.3

15ml Green Chartreuse

15ml lemon juice

15ml Lillet Blanc

10ml egg white

2 drops of Bob’s Cardamom Bitters

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake hard and double strain into a cocktail glass. Express the oils of an orange peel over the surface of a drink, rim the glass, and discard. Drop two drops of cardamom bitters onto the surface of the drink. Serve.

Photography by Dee Chaneva

According to David Wonderich’s Imbibe, the Corpse Reviver first came to fruition in 1862, and was part of the never-ending search for the hung over fraternity that were after a little morning refreshment. William Grimes’ Straigh up or on the Rocks, however, is the book that provides a recipe, a pousse café-style drink that consists of yellow chartreuse, maraschino and creme de Noyaux.

Although the drink leans more towards to sour category, especially with the addition of egg white, the drink falls somewhere between the category of summer and autumn drinks, the latter mainly for it’s warming and herbal properties.

Originally entered in the Gin No.3 & Kings Ginger competition held by Inspirits at the end of September, the drink leads with the herbaceous chartreuse and the spicy botanicals of the gin before the Lillet wades in. A sourness persists throughout, accentuated by the egg white, with bitterness from the Lillet and cardamom bitters. This one is for those who like the taste of booze in their cocktail!

At 46% abv, Gin No.3 packs one hell of a punch in any drink where it’s used as a base spirit. Coupled with Green Chartreuse, which comes in at 55% abv, and it’s safe to say that this drink, like the classic Corpse Reviver No.2, would probably unrevive the corpse after a few too many…